This story centres around a young boy, Bit, and his confused relationship with the largely naked polygamous, vegan older people who won't quite admit to being his parents. There are sensuous depictions of daily processes, making soy cheese and cake and even a birth which Bit assists in. Arcadia is an example of how you can make a compelling story out of the daily mess of commune living by making something go horribly wrong. Thankfully for novelists (and maybe regretfully for the world) communes usually collapse dramatically.